One problem that comes up in sealing applications is that the gasket is not uniformly loaded. There are ways to deal with this, such as making the parts extremely stiff compared to the gasket. In some cases this requires too much material and weight.
One solution to this problem is to look at the distortion the parts undergo based on the desired uniform load and then add the inverse of those distortions to the original geometry. This can be seen in flat-bed trailers that are made with an arch to offset the deflection from loading so that the surface becomes straight.
It would be nice if the distorted geometry from FEA could be used to drive the CAD model.
